Major disconnect: Growing discontent over extended cable outage in Greenwich

Neil Vigdor, Staff Writer

Updated
10:28 pm EDT, Thursday, September 1, 2011

From homebound residents with special needs to people who telecommute for a living, frustration is mounting among those reliant on Cablevision for phone, Internet and TV service because of extended storm-related outages in Greenwich.

They say it's more than just a creature comfort or the ability to watch the Yankees versus the Red Sox.

"It just went out for the fourth time in three days," said state Rep. Alfred Camillo, R-151st District, who lives in the Havemeyer Park section. "It's aggravating and certainly beyond an inconvenience. A lot of people use it for work."

Daniel Warzoha, the town's emergency management director, said he knows of a resident on Clapboard Ridge Road who is a paraplegic and heavily dependent on his telephone and Internet, but has been without cable service for four days.

A former town fire chief, Warzoha characterized the Internet as a critical tool for the town, which has frequently posted storm recovery updates on its website.

"It does you no good if you don't have a way to get to it," Warzoha said. "It's a clear impediment to the messaging that we're trying to get out to the community."

Cablevision spokesman Jim Maiella released a statement Thursday attributing the disruption to widespread power outages caused by Tropical Storm Irene, at the height of which one out of every two Connecticut Light & Power Co. customers in town lost electricity.

"Our crews are in the field, and we are making steady progress in restoring service interruptions that were primarily related to the loss of electrical power," Maiella said. "Our efforts are focused in the areas hardest hit by the storm, including southern Connecticut."

The Bethpage, N.Y.-based cable giant would not reveal how many of its local customers lost service or the number of Cablevision crews it deployed to Greenwich.

Cablevision is encouraging its customers who have power but no cable to contact the company at 203-348-9211, its support line in Stamford.

"We sincerely appreciate the patience of our customers while we work around the clock to restore service to everyone," Maiella said.

Scot Weicker resorted to camping out at Cosi, the flatbread pizza and coffee bar franchise on West Putnam Avenue, for its wireless Internet after the cable went out at his home in Riverside.

The son of Lowell Weicker Jr., the former Connecticut governor and former U.S. senator, Weicker runs an event management company from his home.

"I'm a total loss when the Internet goes out," said Weicker, president of SBWEventsGroup, of Old Greenwich.

Weicker is currently planning a Sept. 17-18 eco-festival in Norwalk called Live Green Connecticut!

"I'm 100 percent relying on the Internet for over 150 exhibitors that will be at the event," said Weicker, whose father was also first selectman of Greenwich.

Weicker regained power at 5 a.m. Wednesday and cable at 4 a.m. Thursday, only to see the latter go out again at 10:30 a.m. Thursday. His cable went on again for a brief period before it was disrupted around 2:30 p.m. Thursday, he said.

"One hundred percent frustration," Weicker said.

On Walsh Lane in Belle Haven, Joe Kaliko has been coping without cable service for several days.

"There are safety concerns," Kaliko said. "A lot of times you need a landline phone for alarms. People should be mindful that security systems may not be working."

Fellow Walsh Lane resident Peter Barhydt, who runs a home-based public relations and lobbying agency with his wife, Beth, called Aberdeen Associates, finally got his cable service back at 1 p.m. Thursday.

"Man, they were just horrible," Barhydt said.

To add insult to injury for Cablevision, a police report was filed at 1 a.m. Wednesday that one of the company's emergency generators was stolen from Marshall Street, which runs parallel to Havemeyer Lane near the Stamford border. Cablevision had no information about the incident.

Cablevision representatives noted not all streets in a particular neighborhood are served by the same power grid.

Camillo got his power back on Tuesday, but said a number of his neighbors were among an estimated 4,200 CL&P customers still without electricity as of 4 p.m. Thursday.

"It could be worse," said Camillo, who represents Cos Cob, eastern Greenwich and part of the downtown. "In the end, I'm grateful that people didn't lose their homes or their lives."

Staff writer Neil Vigdor can be reached at neil.vigdor@scni.com or at 203-625-4436.